Tag: Bullock

Comparative national taxation systems gave this Harvard public finance course dedicated to the nuts and bolts of taxation an international flair.

Fun fact: While Benjamin Franklin did indeed write in a 1789 letter that “Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” The certainty of death and taxes was a notion that had been in the air (indeed in print) earlier, e.g. in Christopher Bullock’s farce, The Cobler of Preston.

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Earlier Harvard courses
on Public Finance and Taxation

Links to earlier course material for Public Finance and Taxation 1883/4 through 1910/11.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 7b ²hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

In this course the theory of taxation is first examined; then the tax systems of the United States and leading countries of Europe are studied. Finally proposals for reforming the methods employed in the United States are considered historically and critically.

The course will be conducted in the same manner as Economics 7a, and admission is subject to the same conditions. Students who do not elect this course at the beginning of the year will be admitted in February only with the consent of the instructor.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), pp.63-64.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 7b ²hf. Professor Bullock. — The Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 37: 2 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 16 Juniors, 9 Sophomores.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 7b
Year-end Examination
1911-12

1. Discuss fully the doctrine that income is the normal source of taxation.
2. Discuss the expediency of using taxation as a means of regulating the distribution of wealth.
3. How should the burden of taxation be distributed?
4. Discuss the incidence of the tax on mortgages in the American states.
5. State and explain four criticisms urged by Seligman against the single tax. State and explain the replies Mr. Shearman has made to these criticisms.
6. Discuss the taxation of personal property in the United States and in Switzerland.
7. Compare the British and the Prussian income taxes.
8. Compare the custom taxes of France, Great Britain, and Germany.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 53-54.

Image Source:  Origin of the observation of the the inevitability of death and taxes: “You lye, you are not sure; for I say, Woman, ’tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes — therefore hold your Tongue, or you shall both be soundly whipt—Sure I know my Office⁠⁠—Give me some Sack⁠—Lord, how I sweat!” from The Cobbler of Preston by Christopher Bullock, p. 21.

 

For those trained to think of sovereign kings subject to a government budget constraint that boils down to the use of some combination of taxing the peasants, borrowing from the grand houses of international banking, debasing the currency, and rents paid for the use of royal land to finance any particular level of government spending, it seems odd to divide a two semester sequence into a semester devoted to taxation and another semester for all the other items in that government budget constraint. But that was the way the field was divided at Harvard under Charles Jesse Bullock in the first part of the 20th century. 

This post is for Economics 7a, the non-taxation parts of public finance.

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Public Finance pre-1911/12

Links to earlier course material for Public Finance from Harvard, 1883-84 through 1910-11.

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Course Description
1911-12

[Economics] 7a ¹hf. Introduction to Public Finance. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

This course covers the general field of public finance exclusive of taxation. After a brief survey of the history of public finance, the following subjects are studied: public expenditures, public revenues other than taxes, public debts, financial administration, and financial legislation. Attention is given both to the theory and to the practice of various countries.

A systematic course of readings is prescribed, and most of the exercises are conducted by the method of informal discussion. Candidates for honors will be given an opportunity to write theses. The course is open only to students who have passed in Economics 1. Graduate students are advised to take Economics 16. Course 7a is not open to students who in the year 1910-11 elected Economics 7, but such students may be admitted to Economics 1b with the consent of the instructor.

Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911), p. 63.

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Course Enrollment
1911-12

Economics 7a ¹hf. Professor Bullock. — Introduction to Public Finance.

Total 24: 3 Graduates, 5 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, 1 Others

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 64.

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ECONOMICS 7a
Mid-year Final Exam
1911-12

Omit any question except the last.

1. Discuss fully the proposition that increasing public expenditures are a sign of advancing civilization.
2. Compare the policy of our federal government with regard to revenue from public domains with the policy of Prussia.
3. To what extent in the United States and elsewhere has the weight of taxation been reduced by revenue from public industries?
4. What light does the history of the United States Post Office throw upon the character and tendencies of public management of industries? Does the postal service of other countries reveal different or similiar tendencies?
5. What policy would you advocate in fixing the prices charged by public industries? If your policy would not be the same under all circumstances, state what it would be under each of the different sets of circumstances that may be assumed to exist.
6. Present what seems to you to be a satisfactory theory of the economic effects of public debts; then state and criticize four other theories which you have studied.
7. “The truth is that all newly produced goods are at the outset disposable capital. All are created for the same purpose, the immediate or more remote satisfaction of needs; they are already destined to be capital, and must, therefore, be considered as capital. To take away any part of them is as truly a destruction of capital, as the destruction of capital previously accummulated would be.”
   What does this passage suggest to you? Criticise it.
8. Of the writers upon public finance whose works you have read, which four impress you as the most important? State what each of these four writers contributed to the science, and explain why he deserves the rank you assign him.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 52-53.

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Earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1883-84. Political Economy 7. Comparison of the financial systems of France, England, Germany, and the U.S. Taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1884-85. Political Economy 7. Comparison of the Financial Systems of France, England, Germany, and the U.S. [Omitted 1884-85].

1884-85. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1885-86. Political Economy 8. Financial history of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1886-87. Political Economy 7. Public finance and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1886-87. Political Economy 8. Financial history of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar [Exams not (yet) found]

1887-88. Political Economy 7. Taxation, public debts, and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1887-88. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1888-89. Political Economy 7. Taxation, public debts, and banking taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1888-89. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar

1889-90. Political Economy 7. Public Finance and Banking. Omitted.

1889-90. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by Adolph Caspar Miller

1890-91. Political Economy 7. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1890-91. Political Economy 8. History of financial legislation in the U.S. taught by William Morse Cole.

1891-92. Political Economy 7¹. Theory and methods of taxation  taught by Charles F. Dunbar [Mid-year examination not found]

1891-92. Political Economy 8. History of fnancial legislation in the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1892-93. Economics 7¹. Theory and methods of txation taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1892-93. Economics 7². Financial administration and public Debts taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1893-94. Economics 8. History of financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1894-95. Economics 7. Theory and methods of taxation (first semester) and financial administration and public debts (second semester) taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1895-96. Economics 7. Financial administration and public Debts taught by John Cummings.

1895-96. Economics 8. History of financial legislation of the U.S. taught by J. A. Hill.

1896-97. Economics 16. Topics in the financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1897-98. Economics 7¹. Theory and Methods of Taxation taught by Frank William Taussig, Readings, Exams.

1898-99. Economics 16. Topics in the financial legislation of the U.S. taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1899-1900. Economics 7a. Financial administration and public Debts taught by Charles F. Dunbar.

1899-1900. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation taught by Frank William Taussig.

1900-01. Economics 7a and 7b. Not offered.

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1902-03. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation with reference to local taxation [undergraduate] taught by Edward Dana Durand, Readings, Exam and Durand biography.

1902-03. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Prof Henry Brayton Gardner of Brown University.

1903-04. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation taught by Frank William Taussig.

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1905-06 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1906-07 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1907-08 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1908-09 Economics 7. Public finance [undergraduate] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1908-09 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced course] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock

1909-10 Economics 7. Public finance and taxation taught by Charles Phillips Huse [biographical information included]

1909-10 Economics 16. American taxation [advanced course] taught by Charles Jesse Bullock and Charles Phillips Huse.

1910-11 Economics 7 ²hf. Public finance considered with special reference to the theory and methods of taxation. taught by Charles Phillips Huse, assisted by Wilfred] Eldred and Roscoe Russell Hess.

1910-11 Economics 16 Public finance (advanced course) taught by Charles Jesse Bullock.

1910-11 Economics 17 ²hf.  Municipal finance taught by Charles Phillips Huse

Image Source: The original Seal of the Department of the Treasury, designed in 1778. The Latin inscription is an abbreviation for the phrase Thesauri Americae Septentrionalis Sigillum, which means “The Seal of the Treasury of North America.” 

 

The field of public finance, especially with regard to issues of taxation, was covered at Harvard in the early decades of the 20th century by Professor Charles Jesse Bullock. 

From 1906: Selected Readings in Public Finance edited by Charles Jesse Bullock (Boston: Inn & Company).

From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

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Earlier versions of the course
by year and instructor

1906-07

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-public-finance-and-taxation-enrollments-and-final-exams-bullock-1906-1907/

1907-08

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-public-finance-and-taxation-exams-bullock-1907-1908/

1908-09

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-examinations-in-public-finance-especially-taxation-bullock-1908-1909/

1909-10 (half-course, American Taxation)

https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-american-taxation-course-description-enrollment-and-final-exam-bullock-and-huse-1909-1910/

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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11

[Economics] 16 Public Finance (advanced course). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

This course is designed for graduate students and for undergraduates who are especially interested in public finance. It cannot be elected by students who have taken Economics 7 [Public Finance course exclusively offered to undergraduates], except by express consent of the instructor.

The course is devoted to the examination of the financial institutions of the principal modern countries, in the light of both theory and history. One or more reports calling for independent investigation will ordinarily be required. Special emphasis will be placed upon questions of American finance.

Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), pp. 60.

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Course Enrollment
1910-11

Economics 16. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance (advanced course).

Total 7: 5 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.

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ECONOMICS 16
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11

1. Discuss briefly the classifications of public revenues offered by Smith, Cohn, Bastable, and Seligman.
2. Discuss the course of development of three classes of public expenditures in the nineteenth century.
3. Analyze the effects of non-commercial expenditures, with a view to supplying the data necessary for judging of the legitimacy of such expenditures.
4. What policy should a modern state pursue with respect to public ownership of arable land, forests, and mines?
5. What fiscal policy would you favor for the following public industries: the post office, railroads, water works, gas works?
6. What has been the position of commercial revenues in national and local budgets since 1850?
7. In what departments of public service and to what extent should fees be used by a modern state?
8. Discuss the relation of taxation to benefits.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.

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ECONOMICS 16
Year-End Examination, 1910-11

1. Discuss double taxation in the United States.
2. Discus the taxation of incomes in Switzerland and the United States.
3. Discuss the past and present status of the property tax in Europe.
4. Discuss the past and present status of the property tax in the United States.
5. Discuss briefly the history of excise taxation in Europe during the nineteenth century.
6. Discuss the present custom revenues of Great Britain, France, and Germany.
7. Discuss the incidence of taxes on mortgages in the American states.
8. Discuss state supervision of the assessment of property in the American states.

Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 52. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11, p. 52.

Image Source:  No Income Tax! by Charles Jay Taylor illustrator on the cover of Puck (24 January 1894).   “Print shows a scene at the ‘Income Tax Office’ with a crowd clamoring at the door where a notice states ‘One at a Time’; inside, a wealthy man is standing by a desk, on the floor at his feet, in his hat, are papers labeled ‘Personal Property Tax Sworn Off’, ‘Tax on Capital Sworn Off’, and ‘Tax on Investments’, he kisses the Bible while a government official sits at the desk with his right hand raised.” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

In addition to his instructional responsibility for the history of economic thought, Charles Jesse Bullock was the faculty member with expertise in the applied economics field of taxation. 

Fun fact: Charles Jesse Bullock edited Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Volume 10 in the series The Harvard Classics, a.k.a., “Five-foot Shelf of Books” (New York: P. F. Collier and Sons, Co., 1909).

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Bullock’s earlier public finance exams
at Harvard

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate]

1905-06 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced]

1906-07 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation

1907-08 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

From 1906: Selected Readings in Public Finance edited by Charles Jesse Bullock (Boston: Inn & Company).

From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

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Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 16. Professor Bullock. —Public Finance (advanced course).

Total 11: 7 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior, 2 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 68.

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Course Announcement
1908-09

[Economics] 16. Public Finance (Advanced Course). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.

This course is designed for graduate students and for undergraduates who are especially interested in public finance. It cannot be elected by students who have taken Economics 7, except by express consent of the instructor.

The course is devoted to the examination of the financial institutions of the principal modern countries, in the light of both theory and history. One or more reports calling for independent investigation will ordinarily be required. Special emphasis will be placed upon questions of American finance.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. V, No. 19 (1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09, pp. 55-56.

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ECONOMICS 16
THE THEORY AND METHODS
OF TAXATION

Mid-year Examination, 1908-09

1. Discuss briefly the writings of Carafa, Bodin, Petty, and the Cameralists.
2. Discuss briefly the views of Adam Smith concerning public revenues.
3. Discuss the following: “A government, unlike an individual or a private corporation, regulates its receipts by its expenditures.”
4. Discuss the financial significance of the post-office, state railroads, and municipal industries.
5. What can be gained by a careful study of public expenditures?
6. What is the theoretical outcome of the discussion of the normal source of taxation? Has the discussion any practical value?
7. What does Adam Smith say about the incidence of taxes on wages, profits, and rent?
8. State and criticize three methods of classifying public revenues?

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1908-09.

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ECONOMICS 16
THE THEORY AND METHODS
OF TAXATION

Year-end Examination, 1908-09 

1. What are the arguments for and against a federal inheritance tax?
2. Describe three different methods of taxing railroads, and state the advantages or disadvantages of each method.
3. What methods of taxing mortgages are employed in the United States? What do you think of each method?
4. Write a brief account of national and local taxation in France.
5. Compare English national and local taxation with French.
6. Discuss the financial situation of the German Empire.
7. What constitutional difficulties do the American States encounter in taxing corporations?
8. Discuss the subject of the national debts of Great Britain, France, the German Empire, and the United States at the present time.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), p. 46.

Another project and some travel have kept me busy since the last post. At last I have some time to get back to producing a flow of new content for Economics in the Rear-view Mirror. I’ll pick up where I left off posting exam questions for courses at Harvard in the academic year 1908-09.

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Charles J. Bullock’s earlier public finance exams at Harvard

1901-02. Economics 7a and 7b. Financial administration; taxation [undergraduate]

1903-04. Economics 16.  Financial history of the United States

1904-05. Economics 7a. Introduction to public finance [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 7b. Theory and methods of taxation [undergraduate]

1904-05. Economics 16. Financial history of the United States.

1905-06 Economics 7.  Public finance [undergraduate]

1905-06 Economics 16. Public finance [advanced]

1906-07 Economics 16. Public finance and taxation

1907-08  Economics 16. Public finance and taxation

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

From 1906: Selected Readings in Public Finance edited by Charles Jesse Bullock (Boston: Inn & Company).

From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock

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Course Enrollment
1908-09

Economics 7 ²hf. Professor Bullock, assisted by Mr. Harrison. — Public Finance considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation.

Total 110: 22 Seniors, 38 Juniors, 41 Sophomores, 5 Freshmen, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1908-1909, p. 67.

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Course Description
1908-09

7 ²hf. Public Finance, considered with special reference to the Theory and Methods of Taxation. Half-course (second half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Professor Bullock.

This course is for undergraduates exclusively, and cannot be elected by graduates. As stated in the title, much attention is given to the subject of taxation, which will occupy about one half of the time of the course and will be studied with special reference to federal, state, and local taxation in the United States. The remainder of the time will be given to such topics as governmental expenditures, governmental industries (including some study of the relation of the state to railways and other public-service industries), public debts, and financial administration.

The course may, with the consent of the instructor, be elected by students who are taking Economics 1 in the same year.

Source: Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. V, No. 19
(1 June 1908). History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1908-09,
p. 48.

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ECONOMICS 7
Year-end Examination, 1908-09

1. What causes are tending to increase municipal expenditures in the United States?
2. What can be said for and against the proposition that increasing public expenditures are a sign of advancing civilization?
3. In what actual cases has public ownership and operation of industries tended to reduce the burden of taxation? What do you consider the probable financial result of public ownership and operation?
4. Describe the experience of the United States with income taxes.
5. Write a brief history of the federal tax on spirits in the United States.
6. By what criteria would you determine the justice of a proposed tax law?
7. Why should a national debt be paid?
8. Give a detailed account of the present method of taxing personal property in Massachusetts.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1908-09; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1909), p. 39.